Shah slams Pawar on corruption, promises Shivaji era in Maharashtra

Pune: Even as the deadlock over sharing of seats between Shiv Sena and his party for the Maharashtra Assembly elections continued, BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday night chose to train his guns on NCP chief Sharad Pawar, accusing him of ‘institutionalising corruption and destroying the system’.

In a scathing attack on the 15-year-old Congress-NCP rule in the state, which he said witnessed deterioration of Maharashtra on all fronts, Shah alleged ‘Sharad Pawar institutionalised corruption and destroyed the system’.

Addressing a rally of party workers here called ‘Sankalp Mela’, the BJP chief said "Pawar turned corruption into a norm" and brought shame to Maharashtra where greed of the ruling party leaders led to decline of the state which witnessed maximum number of suicide by farmers, a dwindling investment and insufficient infrastructure.

Shah, earlier in the day at a rally in Kolhapur, had talked of an "honourable seat distribution formula" between BJP and Shiv Sena for the October 15 polls and appealed to the ally to respond positively to break the ice over the issue.

However, at the rally here, the BJP leader made just a passing and indirect reference to the ongoing tussle between the two saffron allies, who are together for over two decades.

“There is confusion as to who will become Chief Minister. But BJP workers should not worry about this. The ‘Sangharsha Yatra’ undertaken by (party MLA) Pankaja Munde showed people want BJP to win,” he said.

"All party workers should strive till the end to win elections and strengthen Prime Minister Modi's hands. Have faith in Modi and vote BJP to power to restore past glory of Maharashtra. We will adopt the administrative model of Shivaji Maharaj in the state", he added.

Shah, who welcomed MNS legislator Ram Kadam into BJP, derided Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's statement expressing anguish over last month's incident in Solapur where he was booed by the gathering at a function addressed by Modi.